About
The Reason in Revolt project aims to bring together primary source documents of Australian radicalism as a readily accessible digitised resource. By 'radical' we refer to those who aspired to make society more equal and to emancipate the exploited or oppressed. The project website aims to become an ever-expanding record of the movements, institutions, venues and publications through which radicals sought to influence Australian society.
Reason in Revolt is directed by Professor Verity Burgmann, with assistance from Professor Sean Scalmer. It is administered by Jack Roberts (at the University of Melbourne Media and Communications Program), who is also responsible for data curation, research and development, roles which were previously undertaken by Jeff Sparrow, David Milner, Matthew Ryan and Simon Booth. Beth Hallett also carried out research and prepared records. The website is hosted with the support of Matthew Ely and the University of Melbourne Business Services Infrastructure/CRM Applications team. Associate Professor Gavan McCarthy provides guidance on informatics and archival practices. Reason in Revolt is also grateful for the support of both Professor David Goodman, the former Director of the University of Melbourne Faculty of Arts Digital Studio (which closed in 2024) and the Media and Communications Program, at the University of Melbourne School of Culture and Communication. Special thanks go to Roland Mosbergen, Uli Felzman, Ahmad Galea and Steven Thomas who, after the eScholarship Research Centre was decommissioned in 2020, generously provided crucial IT support which enabled the project to move to the University of Melbourne Faculty of Arts. Ben Kreunen and the University of Melbourne Digitisation Centre also provided vital assistance with developing new protocols for scanning documents.
The project was established in 2005 with funding from the Australian Research Council. From 2005 to 2020, the University of Melbourne eScholarship Research Centre (ESRC) hosted the website and assisted in its development, using the Online Heritage Resource Manager. A University of Melbourne Engagement Grant 2017-2018 facilitated inclusion of documents from the Australian Lesbian and Gay Archives. From 2010 to 2017, Reason in Revolt was supported by Roger Coates Labour History Research Grants. Roger Coates’ intellectual enthusiasm was for investigating the many and varied strands of labour, socialist and other radical movements from the mid nineteenth century onwards, a passion shared by the Reason in Revolt project and pursued through its online platform.
Reason in Revolt is currently sustained through a partnership with the Australian Society for the Study of Labour History Melbourne Branch.
How to Contribute to the Site
You may wish to contribute to the Reason in Revolt site by
- Providing additional source documents
- Writing descriptions and abstracts
If you are interested in volunteering, please contact us and we can provide you with the necessary information on how to proceed.
Further Reading
Vanguards and Avant-Gardes: The 'Reason in Revolt' Online Project on Political and Cultural Radicalism, by Simon Booth, Verity Burgmann, Stuart Macintyre, Andrew Milner and Matthew Ryan.
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Copyright
Copyright in the website resides with the University of Melbourne which has reproduced some source materials under licence from third parties. Every effort has been made to seek permission of the rights holders of source materials published on this site. If you own the rights to any of that source material and have any questions regarding its publication, please contact us. Except where otherwise noted, content on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Australia License. No other reproduction of the website or source materials is authorised without the prior written permission of the University of Melbourne.
Further advice regarding the ownership rights and/or use of these materials may be obtained by contacting the Reason in Revolt project.